So here's a pretty typical early '80s kitchen of the area. Actually, the cabinets and counter are the same up and down the entire West Coast. We used to joke that there was only one delivery truck making the rounds from California to British Columbia!
Here's a closeup of the hammered copper paneling on the island which is repeated in the new pantry door on the left behind the island. We found an outlet cover that matched (not easy!) The lovely metal patina which was added to the original bright hammered copper was fabricated by one of our local craftsmen.
There's not a radical change to this kitchen (ok, perhaps the wallpaper), but the layout is somewhat close to the original. Since the clients never sat at their desk, it was replaced with a message center with file drawers and rollouts. With the soffit's gone and better lighting, the room feels bigger and brighter.
We also remodeled the family room bar which was very tight on space and hard to use. It looked squished, especially in relation to the offset window above. Luckily the room was large -- 20' x 18' -- so there was plenty of space to extend the bar under the window.
The final bar picture doesn't do it justice. But hopefully you can see how the balance and scale is in better proportion.
